A gazillion thanks to those of you who provide links to posts on other blogs, really appreciate it, it makes it so easy for all of us to keep up with what’s worth reading.

Just a very, very polite request: please only include a few short extracts from the posts and then provide the link to the full piece. eg If it’s, say, a piece by Steve Benen that runs to about 10 paragraphs, just include about 2 or 3 paragraphs, or parts of 3 or 4, and then the link.

If we post most or all of the piece here then there’ll be no need for us to visit the blog itself, which isn’t fair on the author of the post in question. Thanks everyone.

Jon Hopwood (Yahoo): …. Barack Obama visited New Hampshire two days after Mitt Romney …. the events illustrated a substantial difference in style between two politicians….

… Obama’s appearance, in which the President displayed a fire-in-the-belly that was perfect for prime time and showed him in full campaign mode, was in sharp contrast to the more subdued political pitch made by Romney in Nashua. While Obama is cool, he can turn up the heat. The laid-back Romney, in contrast, comes across as cold….

Obama roused an enthusiastic crowd with his rhetoric. He was back at being the master of the campaign trail. Romney, in contrast, was rather flat …. Romney’s appearance brought to mind Clint Eastwood’s recent remarks about him: That if a movie-maker was looking for an actor to play the President, central casting would send over Mitt. Just what he stood for, Clint said, is anybody’s guess.

…. Romney was paired with the tall and also good-looking Kelly Ayotte. But there was something uncanny about the pair, something not quite human. Rather than fashion models, they struck me as two mannequins that had miraculously come to life and had escaped from Macy’s. There was a plastic quality about both, and for a candidate for President of the United States going up against one of the great campaigners of modern times, Barack Obama, this could prove fatal.

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132 Responses to “afternoon all”

In addition to Joe Scarborough’s previously noted dislike of Newt Gingrich, a reader adds that the “Morning Joe” team has also shown an “unseemly” amount of enthusiasm for Jon Huntsman.

This morning, Scarborough defended Huntsman as the most consistent candidate in the field; last week, with the candidate at the table — “the favorite of many to challenge Mitt Romney,” according to co-host Mika Brzezinski — the team voiced their admiration while Donny Deutsch offered unsolicited campaign advice.

But the enthusiasm dates back at least to May, when frequent “Morning Joe” tablemate Mark Halperin said he was “blown away” by Huntsman, who was the “real deal” and “the second best chance to be the nominee.” Since then, Scarborough and Co. have praised Huntsman frequently, and used another Huntsman appearance in September to ask softball questions and express disbelief that he wasn’t doing better in the polls.

Thanks for the pictures of our lovely First Family at the Food Bank. For a man who can not connect with people, he sure seem to be doing just fine with me. Hay Chris Matthews what are you doing to help the needy? Where are you at?

Afew weeks ago, Huntsman made a gaffe at the Colbert’s show. Some unfunny joke refering to China. The joke was didn’t appear in the broadcasr. Huntsman was PROTECTED by the producers.

We must not underestimate the power of the media. They cannot vote, but they can influence things, they can help their prefered candidates.

They will protect a Huntsman who made a gaffe, while they will criticize a Romney who made a dishonest ad. They will black out a successful foreign trip by the President of the United States, while they’ll give as much coverage as possible to people who criticize this President. They won’t show a devastationg youtube clip that depict a republican woman vp candidate participating in a creepy , bizarre religious ceremony, while they’ll show over and over and over again the clip of a democratic primary candidate who goes a little overboard in his scream of joy.

The power of the MSM can be mitigated by action on the ground, social media and everything. But I remain convinced that there still must be efforts to, if not transform what they do, at least expose the media for what they are : enablers of the oligarchy. I don’t buy that it’s just about ratings.

Romney is such a liar, he’s not looking to put money in people’s pocket. He had no problem putting money in his pocket. He has no problem putting money in the rich folks pockets, it’s just the middle class and poor folks pockets he don’t give a dam about putting any money in .

Romney has small crowds also, although the media doesn’t pan the crowds so we can see just how many people are at his rallys. I remember when PBO and Hillary were campaigning, both attracted large crowds, although PBO’s crowds were more diverse.

Also, small crowds have a different sound, so the media think they are slick when they don’t pan the crowd, but most people who are paying attention (like the people on this site), can not and will not be fooled.

I think he picked up that trick from CNN’s John King, trying to make President Obama the president of just black people. White people vote for McCain/Romney, whichever—–that’s the message. And it’s as ugly and divisive as can be. King wore himself out with that not so subtle message during the whole ’08 campaign.

I sent a email to CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, and I told them that they need to play by the rules, be fair and honest,and when you see someone out and out lying like Mitt Romney’s campaign ad did, you media folks need to call them out on it. Romney has proven his self to be a liar, not just a flip flopper but a liar. At a time when he is seeking the people’s truth, he comes out lying. At a time when we need to hear honest and frank conversation about how to improve this economy, how to put people back to work, what does Mitt Romney do? Lie. There have already been questions about Romney’s character, and this ad proves the questions were legit. I don’t know how Michael Steele or anyone else can defend what Romney did. Because in my opinion being proven to be a liar is nothing good. That is what my email said to CNN, ABC, NBC, and CBS.

Romney is so stupid. He’s bent ass over tea kettle to brand himself as a flip flopper and a liar. Who the hell are his handlers? No matter what one’s political ideology, the one thing that is universal is our belief in having a trustworthy candidate democrat or repug. Everyday, Romney comes up with 10 more reasons for repugs not to trust him. That stupid, stupid man.🙄 if going through with that ad is an example of his sound judgment, then hallelujah and thank you lord that he doesn’t really stand a chance of winning the presidency unless there is blatant cheating.

Though he was hardly the only one, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I) seemed eager to blame President Obama for congressional Republicans scuttling a super-committee deal this week. Bloomberg, whose idea of leadership is destroying an activist library in the middle of the night while keeping journalists at bay, lectured the president, saying it was up to him to “bring people together and to provide leadership in difficult situations.”

I’ve seen a few compelling responses to this very odd line of thinking, but I’m partial towards Jon Chait’s piece.

Copying it as we speak saintroscoe, thanks for the suggestion. I remember watching this a while back and reckoning it was up there with the most cringe-inducing pieces I’d ever seen. But no matter how much media support he’s getting, I just can’t see Huntsman making any headway with the GOP mob, to him he’s to the left of Mao Tse-tung!

Before Huntsman can win the GOP nomination he has to show signs of attaining front runner status. So far he’s no where near that, so the DNC is right to go after Romney. If and when Huntsman becomes the frontrunner or wins the nomination, the Obama campaign will be just as prepared to take him on.

Is the quote from Romney in Iowa for real? He said HE wasn’t putting money in people’s pockets, that’s the other party?” He must be very rattled over his polls, or the immigration issue or the misfire on his ad, because he just delivered a beaut to the Obama ad makers.

When eating with friends and relatives over the Holidaze, keep in mind that any Repubs you’re eating with are responsible for bringing that horror upon the world, and that they are currently trying to do it again with the equally evil buffoons running for the Repub nomination right now. WE must stop them and win back the House and strengthen the Senate. NOW. You in?

One possible strategy for the Romney campaign is that they’re planning on calling “out-of-context” to all the quotes used to frame him as a flip-flopper. Because in a 30 second ad you’re only going to use a couple of five second quotes back to back to show the flip-flop – so Mitt and campaign will scream “Out-of-Context!” and hopes that will work.

Hello Chipsticks and TOD family,
It’s a quiet day today and I am finally getting around to looking at all the posts from the past few days. My goodness, I completely missed my “moment of fame”. Thank you, Chipsticks, for highlighting my comment, and thank you all my TOD friends for your kind words. I am in awe of Chipsticks for what she does every day in keeping us up to date and inspired. I could never hope to run a blog of my own. For starters, I am severely technologically challenged, and more importantly, I don’t know how I could deal with the lunatic fringe on a daily basis. So let me just say I am very grateful for what we have with this blog, for the great work that goes into it and the often funny and always helpful comments. BTW, I am female, 68, a naturalized American citizen (or as the President said – a citizen of choice), a Democrat of the Obamacrat faction, an OFA organizer and a huge admirer of President Barack Obama.
To all of you – Happy Thanksgiving. Take a break and enjoy the holiday. A lot of hard work lies ahead, but I’m confident that together we can
get it done and our President will have four more years to bring lasting change to our country and to the world.

Hi hgerhard, our beloved Obamacrat! You’ll have seen how much everyone appreciated your comment, they were such beautiful sentiments, you have such a lovely way with words. Have a perfect Thanksgiving, thanks again hgerhard. (But I still wish you had a blog!)

FRANKLY…THAT TURKEY TODAY HAS MORE GOING FOR ITSELF THAN ANY OF THE GOP CANDIDATES! IN 2012…WE ARE GOING TO RETIRE THEM TO SOME HAPPY GOLF COURSE SOMEWHERE..EXCEPT FOR NEWT..WE’LL JUST GIVE HIM A JOB AT TIFFANY’S!

Romney in Des Moines, Iowa today said that he isn’t “trying to put money in people’s pockets. That’s the other party.” This is why Willard avoids political shows like the plague. He always puts his foot in his mouth.

During the first two months of the nationwide Occupy protests, the movement that is demanding more out of the wealthiest Americans cost local taxpayers at least $13 million in police overtime and other municipal services, according to a survey by The Associated Press.

I agree, that having riot police and a bunch of cops is something that these mayors have decided to do. They are choosing to waste tax payers money. Plus, some cities even brought out terrorist units, unnecessary.

Well I live in downtown Oakland and whenever there is a protest, they almost always have to have some sort of police presence. This is because of the fact that there is always a group of people who are not really associated with the protests who do go around vandalizing, starting fires, etc. — basically causing all kinds of problem. Most of the businesses around that area are small businesses and they seem to get the worst of it. I see in other cities that they don’t have these kind of issues that we have in Oakland — and believe me Oakland has many issues that have nothing to do with Occupy or any other protests. Now with that said, I also want to point out that neither the Mayor nor Oakland PD handled the Occupy situation very well and are paying the price — there is currently a campaign to mount a recall of the Mayor and our police dept. currently doesn’t have a permanent police chief. Basically, we’re a mess!

Thank you. It’s just common sense and a public safety issue, whether it is the protesters themselves or non-involved bad actors. Not to mention cleaning up after these people or would that be a choice too?

Now that the MegaMedia is frantically turning back to one of their previously anointed ones since Mittmo is flailing about, let’s remember the incredible level of incompetence from Jon-boy from the very beginning of his campaign, brought to you by our lovely blog hostess here:https://theobamadiary.com/2011/06/21/oh-no/

Looks like they paid off the people to get his site back, and even used Search Engine experts to clear it off The Google. I’ve searched for that story before and had many hits on the first page, and now I couldn’t find anything and just happened to remember Chipsticks’ coverage. Jon-boy Huntsman launches a campaign for President and doesn’t buy his name.com, and sends out fundraising literature with the dummy text a program’s template comes with?!? Imagine if President Obama or any Democrat for that matter did something like that…the campaign would be over on day 1 from all the mocking coverage.

I still think he’s just running for 2016 and trying to get as much name recognition nationally as he can right now. Either way, we’ve got to make sure the general public knows what a buffoon this Billionaire’s son truly is, since we know the MegaMedia will fluff him up beyond belief.

I followed up by asking Fehrnstrom whether Romney believed in deporting those immigrants who are already here illegally.
“He doesn’t believe in granting them amnesty,” Fehrnstrom responded. […]
Finally, after I asked the question for a seventh time, Fehrnstrom responded by emphasizing employer enforcement as a way to get illegal immigrants to leave through attrition.
“Well, if you cut off their employment, if they can’t get work, if they can’t get benefits like in state tuition, they will leave,” he said. […]
Just to be clear, I wanted to know about those that still could remain under such a scenario.
“I just answered your question Phil, and you keep hectoring me about it,” he snapped. “You turn off the magnets, no in state tuition, no benefits of any kind, no employment. You put in place an employment verification system with penalties for employers that hire illegals, that will shut off access to the job market, and they will self retreat.They will go to their native countries.”

The Federal Election Commission is set to tell Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), a member of the Tea Party Caucus, that he can’t become the first politician in the country to form his very own “super PAC” during their public meeting next week.

A draft ruling posted by the FEC on Wednesday in response to a request for an advisory opinion Lee filed last month would deny the Utah Republican and his leadership PAC, the Constitutional Conservatives Fund PAC, the ability to create a separate account for unlimited contributions — or “soft money” — used to fuel independent expenditure ads.

That DNC response ad is a winner — and it’s only beginning, Willard. Get used to being called out, you coreless wonder.

I love that description of Newt by Krugman. He’s a BS artist of the highest order — he’s a delusional narcissist and yet the media keep saying he’s so intelligent, knowledgeable, erudite. All he does is create word salad, like Sarah Palin did, but he just has a bigger vocabulary from which to draw.

Jon Hopwood (Yahoo): …. Barack Obama visited New Hampshire two days after Mitt Romney …. the events illustrated a substantial difference in style between two politicians….

… Obama’s appearance, in which the President displayed a fire-in-the-belly that was perfect for prime time and showed him in full campaign mode, was in sharp contrast to the more subdued political pitch made by Romney in Nashua. While Obama is cool, he can turn up the heat. The laid-back Romney, in contrast, comes across as cold….

Obama roused an enthusiastic crowd with his rhetoric. He was back at being the master of the campaign trail. Romney, in contrast, was rather flat …. Romney’s appearance brought to mind Clint Eastwood’s recent remarks about him: That if a movie-maker was looking for an actor to play the President, central casting would send over Mitt. Just what he stood for, Clint said, is anybody’s guess.

…. Romney was paired with the tall and also good-looking Kelly Ayotte. But there was something uncanny about the pair, something not quite human. Rather than fashion models, they struck me as two mannequins that had miraculously come to life and had escaped from Macy’s. There was a plastic quality about both, and for a candidate for President of the United States going up against one of the great campaigners of modern times, Barack Obama, this could prove fatal.

Happy Thanksgiving TODers – in Los Angeles with my two sons this holiday – just finished food shopping and making mud pies for my son’s birthday tonight. Turkey and all the trimmings tomorrow – interesting cooking in someone else’s kitchen, although they are pretty well stocked. Hope all of you have a wonderful and blessed holiday. We have much to be thankful for – and I am thankfull I have found this group this year and have a chance to read up on all the wonderful things PBO is working on for our country.

Thanks Chips for all you do and thanks all of the great article links. Love the photos today at the food pantry!

Been reading about Michel Bauchman being upset about the music played on Fallon’s show as her entrance music–“Michelle Obama wouldn’t have to put up this” sez she. Michelle Obama is the First Lady and the office deserves respect. The crap that the slime bag Limbaugh says about our beloved First Lady is discusting and much worse then Fallon’s music–because Rush is just flat out racist. Makes me sick!!!

First of all why did the dingbat go on Fallon’s show? Michele Bauchman has some issues. that woman is not right. And as for the pill popping racists addict (Limbaugh), he can go straight to HELL, which I imagine his place is already set up for him there..

I don’t know Ayotte, but Romney reminds me of the Disney audioanimatronic characters…….specifically the ones the real wives became in The Stepford Wives. I believe there is a digital recorder in him that speaks…..no heart, no soul, no core…..He’s central casting’s view of what a president SHOULD look like…..but none of them ever have, fortunately.
Our President is so real and down to earth….the fire in his belly is because he cares so passionately about the country and helping people, it’s not an act, something the commentators can’t seem to get through their heads.
Ah well…..reality and truth do win.

Happy Thanksgiving TODers! Have a safe holiday.
In the tradition of answering the question “What am I thankful for?” I can thonestly say that this year I am very thankful that I can get honest, complete daily coverage of what our wonderful POTUS, VPOTUS. FLOTUS and SLOTUS are doing. I’m truly hooked on TOD and cannot leave home without taking a peek each morning, even at the risk of sometimes being late to work :blush:. I am thankful that Chips does such an excellent job of keeping us all informed and troll free! Thank you and GOD BLESS YOU!

Just beautiful.They are captivating. Mesmerizing.Real and deeply in love. You can see it ooze out of every pore. Bless them and keep them safe. I am grateful.
Now, I can get my turkey for tomorrow:) Keep this around, I may want another peek before bed! Thank you, Chips….and a special thanks to BWD. Hugs to you both.

Hey Chipsticks and everyone – Happy Thanksgiving!! I wanted to share something with you all about Thanksgiving and perhaps hope that it keeps us from broad brush stereotypes whether it be NASCAR or country music or banks. I happen to work for a mortgage company, a very reputable one and wanted to share what happened today. We have a few thousand employees and every Thanksgiving, our president provides a free frozen turkey to every employee in every branch office around the US. This year, kind of as a last minute idea, he asked employees if they wished to donate money to provide turkeys to shelters and the company would do a 100% match. Here’s a portion of the email he sent out today.

Subject: Thank you

Thank you so much to those of you who donated funds in order for us to purchase turkeys for those in need this Thanksgiving! With your generous donations and the company match we raised a total of $xxxxxx.

Your funds helped us provide turkeys to many shelters & food pantries in need. Each of these shelters were thrilled to learn they would be receiving turkeys for Thanksgiving. Some reported that they only planned on serving sides this year because that was all they could afford. One shelter that our xxxx office donated to received their turkeys yesterday and the delivery driver said that the experience changed his life. He said people were lined up outside and when he arrived they started crying and screaming. They thought they were going to go hungry this Thanksgiving.

We are also pleased to report that we are giving a check in the amount of $2,000 of the funds collected to Matt Mitchell and his family, friends of . They lost their home and belongings recently in a fire. We are happy to help Matt and his family get back on their feet with these funds.

Thank you again for your generosity and I hope that you and your family have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you for sharing that! What a generous and heartfelt act the employees and your company did. It meant so much to so many….and I’m guessing, filled your hearts with pride. You are lucky to work someplace where giving back to others is an important part of what the company is all about. Maybe others can suggest that they start something like this at their own workplaces, in their own communities. Pay it forward. The world would be a much nice place…thank you for sharing that with us. Happy Thanksgiving.

Clint Eastwood’s line about Romney was good. But there was an even better one in a piece in the New York Review, which said that Mitt Romney is the guy you would cast as the president in your movie if you couldn’t afford George Clooney.

I think Clint Eastwood is a Republican and the fact he said that about Romney really says a lot. Mitt just comes off as a smart person who’s a jerk. That lie in the first ad, deleting all the e-mails from his governorship in MA, his cowardice about SB 5 in OH and numerous other things demonstrate he is just a hypocrite, a liar jerk. Like Huckabee said, it’s like voting for the guy who laid you off.

Thanks for the video of a real family, with real humble values, and a genuine love for the little people who truly are grateful for the small things in life. I’d rather the Obama family lose the next election than to see them change away from their spiritual values (I’m safe in this because I just know they never will😀 ) . You’re fantastic Chips. Have a blessed day everyone, and don’t forget to talk to your family and friends about the future of this country. Do like Rev Al suggests……have a real family dialogue. Allow the malcontents to have their say, then sway them with the truth of this President and all the good he has brought us thus far.

Loved the video of the First Family, just love how committed they are to ‘service’. The guy at the end asking the Prez to feel/look his suit was a hoot, it just shows how they feel about him – ‘just one of the family’. Thanks Chips.

The Romney Deceive America Ad is brilliant. I watched it at least 8 times this morning.

I just did a google search on Mitt Romney lies and received – About 45,200,000 results (0.19 seconds)

over 45 million returns. That is not good news for Willard’s campaign.

To be fair – I did a search on PO using the same approach and his results returned 42 million results but PO’s results were tied to headlines like the following:
Mitt Romney, Obama Ad – Lies
Mitt Romney lies about Barack Obama
Fight the Smears learn the truth about Barack Obama
and the majority of others were linked to the ObamaSUXXxxxx sites – As the worst president ever, Obama has long list of failures. See our growing list of Obama’s Failures. etc. blah blah blah

The difference between the two results is that Mitt’s lies (most documented recently) are mostly tied to factual accounts and can be found via credible links and videos that can sourced easily. Mitt’s lies can be objectively assessed by anyone regardless of political affiliation. PO’s results are cumulative over the last 5 years as he ran for the democratic election as the party nominee to date and with research is simply not credible.

All I know is Mitt Romney is a liar. There have always been questions about Romney’s character and this ad says all we need to know. Mitt Romney will say and do anything to win, even if he has to lie. Willard Mitt Romney is a liar.